The Devil's Shield
by Cadfish
Summary: With Sena in the hospital, Hiruma reverts to his past life to take revenge. Eventual Hiruma/Sena. Rated M for adult themes and language.
1. Cover Your Eyes

**Title:** The Devil's Shield

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Eyeshield 21.

**Summary:** With Sena in the hospital, Hiruma reverts to his past life to take revenge. Eventual Hiruma/Sena. Rated M for adult themes and language.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Cover Your Eyes**

Rui Habashira, the leader of the Zokugaku Frilled Lizards, screeched to a halt in front of the convenience store on his motorcycle. He looked up and down the street, his bike rumbling as he idled next to the curb. After waiting a moment more, he sighed and killed the engine. In the quiet that followed, a scuffling sound in the alleyway behind the store became even more obvious. Again he sighed, but this area was under his territory after all.

And as he pulled out a well-worn and dented metal pipe from his backpack, he reasoned that scaring a couple hooligans before his meeting with the Deimon Devil Bats would be a good way to let off some steam.

With the confidence of a man with purpose, Rui strode straight into the near pitch-black alleyway whistling a merry tune. In the dim light of the alley, he could make out two large figures huddled over a fallen smaller third figure.

"Two against one?" He called out, with just the right amount of aggression mixed with bored apathy in his voice. "Now, that doesn't seem very fair." He hefted his steel pipe over one shoulder.

One of the two hulking shadows straightened a bit at his words. "Oh, shit." Said the man.

Rui's eyes narrowed. This was not the "oh, shit" of a man caught in the act, or the "oh, shit, he's going to beat our heads in with metal pipe," or even, "oh, shit, what the hell is wrong with that guy's tongue?"

No, those were the words of a man who has his fun interrupted. His "oh, shit" translated to "I'm really annoyed, but whatever."

Which meant that he didn't see Rui as a threat. Oh, thought Rui his grip on the pipe tightening, he might just change his mind before the night was through.

One of the men drew something from his suit's jacket pocket.

Due to a certain fiendish blond quarterback, Rui was only too familiar with a wide variety of advanced projectile weaponry, and so his automatic responses took over, ducking down low and his legs tensed, poised to strike, but when the man withdrew the something from his suit, it was not a gun.

It was a fat wad of cash.

The tension in Rui faded, replaced with a cold anger that made something in the back of his throat ache and burn.

"There you go," said the man, tossing the money at Rui and then turning away, "now beat it, kid."

Rui let the green bundle hit him in the chest and fall to the ground. He made no move to pick it up. Instead, his grip on the pipe tightened.

"I'll be beating something alright."

______

It was a quick fight, if you could call it a fight, Rui thought.

To their credit, the big bad suits had a little punch to them, Rui's swollen cheekbone and split lip could attest to that, but didn't have the training or stamina that Rui had.

Of course, the discarded pipe (now bent at nearly a ninety degree angle) had nothing to do with it. Much, anyway.

His blood was still racing; his body, oblivious, cheerily continued pumping adrenaline into his bloodstream and wondered why he'd stopped. He took a few seconds to get his breathing back under control. Now came the hard part.

He approached the fallen figure and crouched beside it. It was hard to make out who it was in the darkness of the alley, or what condition they were in, and it wasn't his forte, but it wouldn't do to leave the pitiable thing there for the suits to take out their revenge.

"Hey. You okay?" Rui reached down to touch where he thought the shoulder might be and was surprised when he felt cold, bare skin that shuddered at his touch. _Shit, _he thought, _a woman?_ Revulsion filled his throat like bile; he had gone too easy on the shit-maggots, far too easy.

"Can you hear me?" Rui asked, in a somewhat softer voice, "I'm going to pick you up, and take you to the hospital. Do you have anything broken, or bleeding?"

There was no response.

He took off his jacket and lifted her body to wrap it around her, trying not to touch her nakedness more than necessary. She didn't make a sound, other than to put her hand on his chest and weakly push at him, a feeble attempt to get away. His jaw tightened. When he moved forward to pick her up, his foot caught on something that he recognized even in the dark. A schoolbag.

_Fuckers._

He scanned the ground for her clothes or any other belongings, but saw none. With his long arms, it was easy to pick her up, take out his cell phone and scoop up her schoolbag as he went.

"I need an ambulance." He said without prelude. "I'm in front of the Lucky Star convenience store on 34th street."

His grip tightened on the phone as someone spoke on the other line.

"Yeah, Hiruma, I know you're not the fucking hospital, but it's an emergency, and everyone knows your connections are that much faster. I'll pay you back later."

Rui rounded the corner, headed straight for the extra pair of clothes he had stashed under the back seat of his motorbike.

"Goddammit, it's not for me, Hiruma," he said angrily, "it's for-"

For the first time in the light, Rui looked down at who he held in his arms.

"-SENA???"

* * *

**A/N** – It's a short chapter with a terrible cliffhanger, I know, forgive me. The second chapter will be typed up and posted without delay, so stay tuned.


	2. Blindsided

**Title:** The Devil's Shield

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Eyeshield 21.

**Summary:** With Sena in the hospital, Hiruma reverts to his past life to take revenge. Eventual Hiruma/Sena. Rated M for adult themes and language.

* * *

**Chapter Two: Blindsided**

There was a terrible look on Hiruma's face.

Rui couldn't meet his eyes, the feelings in the quarterback's gaze were intense enough to make his own gut feel like it had been stabbed through with a crowbar and then had some of his innards slowly ripped out with the hooked end (a feeling he could attest to being personally intimate with, having survived a similar situation the year prior to joining the football team).

They stood across from each other in the hospital corridor outside a private examination room. Rui almost half hoped the doctor would never come back out with her assessment. The doctor would only confirm what Rui already knew had happened, and he feared how Hiruma would react then.

Rui's legs wouldn't stop shaking; he forced his heels to stay steady on the floor. His hands were trembling; he made fists and forced them still. There was a lump in his throat; he forced the words out.

"I'm sorry." Rui said and winced. As soon as the words were out, he wanted to take them back. He sounded like an idiot. And once he started, it was hard to stop. "I should've been there sooner. The meet, I was already late for it and – I could've been there sooner."

Rui wanted someone to drop a cement block on his head to shut him up for good. Hiruma didn't need to hear this from him now. It felt like he was asking for his forgiveness, but he didn't want that. He didn't deserve it. He deserved a cement block to the head.

For what felt like an eternity, Hiruma didn't respond.

"Thank you."

Rui looked up. Hiruma was staring at him, his expression unreadable.

"Don't ever expect me to say that again, you shitty yankee."

Rui wasn't sure if he was supposed to respond to this and wasn't able to anyway. The doctor was finally done with her examination and came out of the room with. Hiruma stiffened.

"Hiruma," she said, straightening her glasses, her hand was slightly shaking as she did so, "he's in bad shape. Numerous internal injuries, some bruised ribs, the right wrist fractured, and there's enough evidence of forced entry to confirm definite sexual assault. I'll need his parents' consent to conduct a rape kit."

The look on Hiruma's face then became so that Rui felt horrible just for catching a glimpse of it before quickly looking away. The raw surprise and emotion was too unguarded, so unlike Hiruma, that it felt like a horrible violation of privacy to look upon. Fuck, he should have said something earlier, but some part of Rui had wanted to believe that Hiruma already somehow knew and he wouldn't have to break the news to him himself. He was such a shit-maggot coward, and he had let Hiruma thank him? A cement block smashed into his face wouldn't have been thanks enough.

The doctor noticed the change too and seemed at a loss for words. "I'm sorry, I thought you had already known…"

"Is he awake?" Hiruma's reply was abrupt; and his face was a mask, devoid of any emotion.

"No. He was already asleep when he came in, but I put him under for the pain." She flipped through her clipboard, and took out a pen to write something down. "I'm scheduling him for surgery for tomorrow morning, since none of his injuries are urgent enough to re-"

"They're urgent." And that was all Hiruma had to say.

"I'll call in the surgeon. He'll be here within the hour."

Hiruma nodded absently.

"But I'll still need parental consent, Hiruma," she said. "Even for you."

Hiruma gave her the phone number from memory. And told her to come to him directly if she heard from any of her contacts about any suspicious characters visiting the nearby clinics that night.

She headed down the hallway, heels clicking at a brisk pace, when she stopped and turned.

"Hiruma?" She called.

Hiruma stared back at her impassively.

"When you're through with them," when she smiled, her glasses glinted in the florescent lights, "be sure and send them here."

Hiruma smiled at her, his teeth glinting back.

_____

Before she was even out of sight, Hiruma turned and motioned for Rui to follow. Their destination turned out to be a storage room just across the hall, and as Rui was roughly pushed inside, he wondered briefly if this was the place where he would die.

The closet was dark, even with the lights on. The fluorescents were dying and flickered eerily. Hiruma shut the door behind them.

"You'll need an alibi."

Rui looked at Hiruma sharply. This was not what he had been expecting, sure, but the implications of this statement did not bode well. The lights continued to splutter.

"Later tonight, an officer is going to come and take your statement. He'll take you down to the station, pretty standard procedure. Once you get there, he'll put you in a holding cell to wait for further questioning. Since the police station has been pretty backed up these days, he'll forget about you for the entire night."

"Why are you telling me this?" Rui asked. It sounded as though Hiruma had everything planned for him whether or not he agreed.

"I owe you that much, you shit-maggot." He paused. "And you need to cooperate. For your own good."

"And you, what are you gonna be doing while I'm stuck doing time?"

The look that Hiruma gave him then was so terrifying that Rui was immeasurably grateful that the lights chose that moment to finally die and plunge the room into darkness.

* * *

**A/N** – Sorry for the wait. With luck, the next chapter will be out much faster. And be longer.


	3. Pair of Shades

**Title:** The Devil's Shield

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Eyeshield 21.

**Summary:** With Sena in the hospital, Hiruma reverts to his past life to take revenge. Eventual Hiruma/Sena. Rated M for adult themes and language.

* * *

**Chapter Three: A Pair of Shades**

Rui felt sick.

The events of the night were proving a little too heavy for him. Veteran biker or no, he was still in high school, and he could not process things like rape and murder as easily as Hiruma could.

Therefore, it took him a couple minutes before he could gather himself enough to fumble around for the doorknob and step back into the blindingly bright lights of the hallway. Hiruma was nowhere to be seen, but he had expected that.

Absently licking at a cut on his cheek, he considered the hallway and made his way to the bathroom, not looking forward to waiting for whatever Hiruma had in store for him without at least washing off his hands. To think that he had actually _touched_ the shit-maggots.

He immediately regretted his decision.

From the combination of both standing in a bathroom and seeing Hiruma again so soon, Rui nearly wet his pants, but thankfully his body drew on some deeply rooted reserves and resisted.

Hiruma was at the sink, but the sound of running water didn't quite cover the sound of bullets being fitted into the chamber of a gleaming revolver. Each one clicking like knuckles being cracked, one by one.

With a flick of his wrist, the revolver snapped shut.

The gun was put away in his clothes, well concealed behind his jacket. Hiruma didn't so much as look at him as he stepped around him to exit the bathroom.

"You didn't see anything." It was an order, and Rui knew it was for his own good.

But the acrid smell of vomit was still heavy in the air, and Rui noted the careful way in which Hiruma avoided his own reflection. Perhaps not so easy, after all.

"I'm coming with you."

~"~"~

"Yo! Habashiraaa!" The voice on the other end of the phone sounded slightly slurred. "It's been a while, where you been? You still kicking around pig dick?"

Rui cringed. His cell was on speakerphone, and Hiruma was way beyond having a sense of humor tonight. "Listen, I need a favor."

The voice on the other end immediately sobered. "What's up?"

"Remember the place where we got stopped by the Habanera boys? The one near the con-bi store?"

"Yeah?"

Rui detailed what he wanted as quickly as possible.

"I'm on my way there now." There was a rumble of an engine being turned. "Just what'd these guys do, Habashira?"

"Just make sure they're still there. Don't touch anything. If they leave, just follow them. Don't let them know you're there."

"Rui," the voice hesitated slightly, "everything okay?"

Rui stared at Hiruma. "It will be."

He ended the call. He hoped his friend's involvement would be as limited as possible. Accessory to murder was considerably worse than a fight behind a con-bi store.

"You've a good subordinate." Said Hiruma. Rui was surprised, it was the first words he'd said to him since the bathroom.

"Friend." Rui corrected, stiffly.

Hiruma gave a derisive snort and looked out the car window at the passing scenery. Rui, for the tenth time, glanced at their driver curiously. The man seemed terrified of Hiruma, and had pealed into the hospital entrance fast enough when Hiruma had called.

He distracted himself from darker thoughts by wondering at the reason for the driver's unfortunate debt to the devil.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence.

~"~"~

Hiruma thought of how the last week had played out. He himself was an excellent strategian, usually five steps ahead of any opponent that dared face him. He knew all the strengths and weaknesses of his pieces, his players, and he knew how to use them when it counted, protect them when vulnerable.

But tonight he had failed. Failed in a way so complete and earth-shattering that he could hardly get his thoughts straight enough to think about the _next_ move, let alone five steps ahead.

He considered Rui Habashira, who sat next to him in the car.

Now there was another chess player, a leader in his own right. His moves just as ruthless, but perhaps less rationally justified. What players he didn't have, he took with that freakishly long-armed reach of his. There was no great strategy for him, no back up plans to fall on. The kid had one goal, and as far as he was considered, one way to get there.

Hiruma supposed that it was this same single-mindedness that inspired the shitty yankee to follow him right out of the alibi he had taken the time to construct for him. Without whom, Hiruma might have gone out and done the first thing that occurred to him, which had been to empty his gun – _pounded their brains into the pavement, rip out their insides, break every breakable part of them into a thousand more pieces _– into those responsible, consequences be damned. Habashira had snapped him out of it with his little stunt, giving him some time to plan, and now Hiruma had one more thing he owed the tongue-freak.

Closing his eyes, Hiruma allowed himself to think of Sena for the first time that night. As expected, every muscle in his body tightened in response. His attempts to quell the anger were largely unsuccessful, his hands would not unclench, but the raging screaming voices in his head quieted to a reasonable level. Underneath layers of fury and frenzy, Hiruma had carefully concealed a level of pain so intense and intimate, that he had to hide it even from himself. To acknowledge it would be to acknowledge something else that he had been struggling to ignore, something that would unmake him. But now, he burrowed deep into it, searching for answers, searching for something that might sate this growing frustration.

He recalled the memory of a few weeks ago, at the clubhouse.

"Hiruma-san?"

Practice had ended hours ago, and everyone else had already made their way, limping and sore, homewards. Hiruma did not look up from his laptop. He had heard the fucking chibi dallying outside the door a full five minutes before entering. It could have been no one else, as if anyone else could _fidget_ that loudly.

"What is it, chibi?" He expected football talk, maybe something having to do with next week's scrimmage location or perhaps a confession as to why Sena had been slightly favoring his right leg all practice. There was nothing that could have prepared Hiruma for Sena's next words.

"Would you like to sleep with me?"

Hiruma froze, not trusting himself to breathe. It was no small feat to immobilize the mind of Deimon Bat's quarterback, but Sena had seemingly done it with seven syllables and very little apparent difficulty.

Sena continued, unaware. "I just thought that if you wanted, you could sleep over at my house, rather than… here."

He faltered at the odd expression on Hiruma's face. It was severe disappointment, but Sena wasn't to know that.

"How did you know I slept here?" Hiruma said instead.

Sena looked uncomfortable but was prepared with an answer. "I came to practice early yesterday morning. You were sleeping," he gestured over to the locker room couch, "and I realized that you were always the first one here, last one to leave." He took a breath. "So I thought maybe, if you wanted… well, my parents wouldn't mind."

_His parents wouldn't mind, was it?_ Hiruma snorted. He was sure that they would object if they knew his true intentions towards their boy. And as for _what he wanted_…

"No." Hiruma declined before he let his mind wander down that particular line of thought and actually consider accepting. Something in him became inexplicably angry at the disappointment on Sena's face. "I like it here." He felt obliged to explain, if only to clear the worry from Sena's overactive conscience. "I feel comfortable."

"And your…" Sena flushed, looking as though he desperately wished he could take back those two words.

"My parents? They don't care." Said Hiruma coolly, honestly. "And I couldn't give two shits about what they care about."

Sena looked supremely uncomfortable now, tipping dangerously into panic-mode. Hiruma resisted the temptation to roll his eyes, he did not mean to be so abrupt, but then Sena shouldn't have wound him up like that. His brain was too distracted with certain positions of a certain running back to be filtering the words coming out of his mouth.

He was about to tell Sena that he shouldn't care either, or something to that effect, but the treacherous part in him – the part that twisted viciously whenever Sena was near – commandeered his voice and spoke for him.

"Are you free?"

Sena looked surprised. "Yes," he answered cautiously.

"I could use another pair of eyes for these tapes from last season," he indicated the laptop, "I was planning on going over the running backs tonight anyway."

Hiruma inwardly recoiled from how inordinately pleased Sena looked at the begrudging invitation. _He should not be doing this, he told himself that he wouldn't-_

He did not rescind the offer.

Sena volunteered his eyes gladly – looked as though he would just as happily hand over his arms and legs should Hiruma require them – and then rushed out the door again with the promise of returning shortly with refreshments for their impromptu study session.

He was gone before Hiruma could call him back. Fucking chibi must've thought that soda and vending machine snacks were the way to please everybody. Kid had been a gopher for far too long.

But damn if he wasn't fast. Bearing bags of chips and sports drinks, Sena returned in record time.

And every after-practice meeting after that – and they had practice six days of the week, Sena never failed to bring along some snacks from the nearby convenience store. Even after Hiruma's repeated insistence that he did not need to (though, Hiruma had little else to offer in the way of refreshment but protein bars and shakes), Sena continued to bring his own little contributions. Occasionally Kurita or the little monkey-shit would attend as well, but for the most part, everyone was too tired to even think of staying after practices.

Clearly, Sena was tired as well – Hiruma made sure everyone gave their all at practices – but despite that, he always made that extra effort of keeping Hiruma company. And while Hiruma had not once admitted any comfort in his presence, he never turned Sena away.

After they went through all of last season's tapes, they went through some college level footage, and after that, they compared it to some footage of that shitty Panther's team. They discussed various plays, that day's practice, the merits of one athletic brand versus another. Mostly, it was Sena talking and occasionally Hiruma would interject with a comment or two. They were both obsessed enough with football to find the topic inexhaustible, but within two weeks of their first after-practice meeting, they had moved on to other areas of conversations, like:

"Have you ever played any other sports, Hiruma-san?"

And, "So how the fuck did you and the shitty manager meet up anyway?"

And one particularly memorable conversation, "Where did you learn to shoot like that?"

It was on one night after a particularly brutal scrimmage game (if it could be called a game, Hiruma had invited/coerced almost all of their past available opponents to play them, all at once), that Hiruma's cell phone had rung.

Thinking it was Sena, he reached for it – intending to tell the chibi for the hundredth time that Sena getting snacks was a serious waste of time (when the clubhouse already had plenty of food stocked) and to hurry up and get his ass back to the school. Instead, the name that came up on the caller id was one Rui Habashira, or "Fucking Lizard-Loser" as was the actual name flashing on the screen.

Hiruma thought about letting it go straight to voicemail ("YA-HA! You have reached your lord and master, Hiruma of Deimon Bats. If I thought you were important enough, I would have answered by now, so if you leave a message after the beep, I'll fucking kill you."). Habashira had, after all, neglected to come to today's meeting.

But he might as well listen to the shitty lizard's excuses as he waited for Sena to return. Hiruma frowned absently – Sena was taking an awfully long time, especially for him, probably sidetracked by the fucking monkey or something – and flipped open the phone.

* * *

**A/N -** I had neither expected such a great response nor that Rui would be continuing to lead the story! Delinquent until the very end, he steals even limelight. Seriously though, it was through your very supportive and dazzling reviews that created this miracle: the unexpected update. With any luck, there shall be more within a more reasonable time period (but you all know better than to trust my flimsy promises). I have no suitable apology and can only hope for all of your continued undeserved support.


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